We are filing a federal quiet title action to address a title defect that has gone unexamined for over a century.

Twenty federal land patents were issued between 1859 and 1907 under the Sioux Half-Breed Scrip Act of 1854. These patents permanently transferred land from federal ownership to private hands. That land was later included in Superior National Forest without eminent domain, without purchase, and without any legal process extinguishing the original patents.

Everything built on the assumption of federal title, including proposed copper-nickel mining in the Boundary Waters watershed, rests on land the government may not validly own.

We are documented heirs to the original patentees through the Peloquin-Wapasha lineage. Our quiet title action under 28 U.S.C. § 2409a asks a federal court to examine the chain of title and declare what the records already show.

This is not activism. This is a title dispute. The patents are in the BLM records. The law is settled. We just need to get it in front of a judge.

What funds cover:

Federal court filing fees

Attorney consultation fees

Lis pendens recording in multiple counties

Document preparation and service costs

Court-required copies and administrative fees

Every dollar goes directly to the cost of getting this case filed and served.

Why it matters:

If these patents stand, and the law says they should, it means the federal government has been managing, restricting, and leasing land it doesn't own. That has implications for the Twin Metals mining proposal, for environmental protection, and for the rights of indigenous patent holders who were simply written over.

The records exist. The law is clear. Help us get it in front of a court.